Liberals and conservatives have at least one thing in common: They both know their opinions are the right ones.
There's nothing wrong with being confident in your beliefs.
But are we, as Missourians, less tolerant of our neighbors' political views? A new survey suggests we are.
Sign-making company ShieldCo conducted a survey of 3,000 Americans to find out what they think of yard signs - in particular, their neighbors' yard signs.
Other than California residents, Missouri ranked as the least tolerant state in the country when it comes to their neighbors' expressing political views - 33.6 percent of Missourians find their neighbors' signs irritating.
Compare that to Arkansas, the state least fazed by political yard signs.
There, only 5.9 percent of respondents stated they found the signs to be an annoyance. (The survey noted Arkansas does have a lot of rules regarding placement, size and the number of campaign signs allowed on private property.)
Despite that, the survey said our state believes Republicans, Democrats and other parties/beliefs have the right to express their opinions.
We're glad they recognized us for supporting our First Amendment right to free speech.
This page has been a forum for opinions - yours, ours and others, ranging from syndicated columnists to editorials from other newspapers.
Perhaps the centerpiece of our daily editorial page is our letters to the editor section, where area residents share their opinions frequently. Many are strong opinions, ranging from far left to far right, to the occasional right field.
Sometimes we agree with the letter writers and sometimes we don't. However, as long as they meet the criteria (the two biggest being that letters are issue-oriented and 400 words or fewer), we print them.
Some letters to the editor rebut others, and that's fair game. All we ask is that letter writers be respectful of others' opinions. Criticize the positions, not the people holding them.
Jefferson City is a political town, but we believe the majority of us are more tolerant than the survey would suggest.
What's your opinion on the hot topics of the day?
Let us know at [email protected].